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DRAMATURG
As a dramaturg, my goal is to be a
support system for the director,
design team and actors of the
production. Having worked as a
dramaturg on productions like The
Exonerated, Copenhagen, Bent and
Lysistrata; the needs of each
production were unique to the
director’s needs, the artists
involved and the demands of the
script. I am passionate about
research and feel the more
information available to the
theatrical team the clearer the
story will be to the audience. I am
available for hire as a dramaturg
and can be reached via this website
or through my representation. I have
included a sample of dramaturgical
notes written for a production of
The Exonerated.
The
Exonerated
Dramaturg’s Notes:
If
you are from or have spent any time
in a country other than the United
States: false arrests, false
imprisonments and even the concept
of an untrustworthy police/judicial
system may seem more the norm than
the exception. And, depending on
the country, the idea of “innocent
until proven guilty” may also seem
foreign. Here in the United States
we like to think that our
government, our police/judicial
system operates under the premise of
those concepts of liberty we hold so
dearly. And quite frankly, Americans
define ourselves individually and as
a nation on these principles of
freedom, liberty and justice. So,
what happens when all that fails?
“Although The Exonerated is
based on real people, it is really a
story about all of humanity
and the prospect of our freedoms
being removed by these ‘systems’
we’ve created to protect ourselves…”
said Jessica Blank one of the
playwrights of “The Exonerated”
during a phone interview. She and
Erik Jensen inspiration for the
script started while attending an
anti-death-penalty lecture at
Columbia University in the Spring of
2000. The play explores the JUSTICE
of the Justice System in the United
States and the aftermath of victims
when that system fails.
The
term EXONERATED, by definition:
1. to free from blame
2. to free from a responsibility,
obligation or task
3. to be proclaimed innocent after
having been convicted of a crime
In a
study conducted between 1989 and
2003, according to the Federal
Bureau of Justice Statistics there
were 340 exonerations: 327 men and
13 women. Of those cases 205 were
murder cases and 74 that involved
the Death Penalty or Capital Murder
Cases. There are thousands of
additional cases in review.
So it
begs the questions:
Does racial profiling exist?
Are we guilty by association?
Are there criminal law enforcement
officers?
How many Americans have been falsely
imprisoned?
How many Americans have been put to
Death for crimes they did not
commit?
“But
I’m no different from you—I mean, I
wasn’t a street thug, I wasn’t
trash, I came from a good family—if
it happened to me, man, it can
happen to anyone…”
Kerry
Max Cook was falsely imprisoned for
22 of his 45 years; now exonerated.
Denis
McCourt
Dramaturg |
